Scott Dickens wants to 'compete so bad'

Three simple words that pack so much meaning. Who hasn’t at some point in their life been told not to give up?

By mom. By dad. A teacher, perhaps. A coach.

And sure, it’s a phrase that has become a cliche, really, when attached to an athlete facing some type of setback or adversity.

But for Vancouver swimmer Scott Dickens, those words, in big red and white letters on a banner at the back of a school gymnasium in his hometown of Ancaster, Ont., four years ago became life altering and a huge inspiration.

“Three words that definitely changed my life,” he said Thursday from a set of bleachers on the pool deck of the UBC Aquatic Centre. “I’ve been living by those words the last four years.”

Now 27, the UBC grad, who has lived in Vancouver since 2003, is headed to the London Olympics believing that his perseverance and a radically altered training regimen this season has set him up to challenge for a medal in the 100 metre breaststroke.

“I want to go and compete so bad,” said Dickens, who along with several other London-bound Olympians will swim in this weekend’s Mel Zajac Jr. meet at UBC.

“I know I’m an underdog and people aren’t expecting me to do anything, but I don’t care. I have a belief inside of me right now that is so high.”

Dickens could well have packed it in the spring of 2008 when the breaststroker, seemingly a shoo-in, shockingly failed to qualify for Beijing, four years after finishing 19th at the Athens Olympics. That he missed out by just 12/100ths of a second made it both cruel and crushing.

And to make matters worse, he was scheduled a week later to attend a celebration at his old elementary school, Ancaster Meadow, which had taken him on through the Adopt an Athlete program. He thought about cancelling. The principal even told him he didn’t have to go through with it.

But he kept the promise. And when he walked into the gym to see a sea of kids screaming for him and noticed the giant ‘Never Give Up’ banner, he nearly broke down in tears. It was, he says now, one of the most overwhelming feelings in his life.

He talked to the kids about not letting life knock you down, about getting up and trying again and again. He’s now refined that talk into what he calls his ‘Never Give Up’ speech, one he continues to deliver to school groups and others.

Still, he did take a break from swimming after those 2008 trials, travelling in Europe with his then girlfriend and now wife and watching only one Olympic race, Canadian Ryan Cochrane’s bronze medal swim in the 800-freestyle.

“I just wanted to separate myself for a while from everything, not having to think about sport and swimming.”

At this year’s trials in Montreal in March, he qualified for London in the 100- and 200-metre breaststroke and in the medley relay. And last month, he returned triumphantly to Ancaster Meadow, carrying a gigantic Canadian flag into the gym to raucous cheers of “Go Scott Go.”

“I was excited to speak to the kids . . . to show them that ‘See it is possible.’ If you have a dream, go after it.”

The kids raised more than $2,500 to support Dickens’ training. His old high school has kicked in another $2,000.

“They’ve showed me so much compassion. I’m almost speechless. Seeing how much they supported me and believed in me, it definitely means even more to me now. And after that assembly, it was kind of like a huge switch went off in my head. I wanted it even more.”

Dickens began this year taking what he calls a big risk, cutting his weekly swim mileage by a third to 30-35 kilometres — “less than I ever have my whole life” — and increasing his strength and conditioning workouts. He’s added eight to 10 pounds and now carries 190 pounds on his six-foot-five frame.

“I didn’t want to go to London and just place 18th again. I want something more, I want to be faster, want to be better. I want to contend with the big guys in the world because I believe that I am that good.”

He admits it was scary in the fall when he was dead tired in his first race and didn’t swim well. “I was freaking out.”

But he believed in the new program and it paid off. He won the 100 breaststroke at trials in one minute, 0.43 seconds and “I know I’ve got a lot more in me. There’s no doubt I’m going to go 59 [seconds] in London. It’s ‘How fast can I go?’

“I just keep surprising myself week after week. For the last five weeks, I’ve done multiple best-time workouts, multiple max-outs in the weight room.”

All that hard training likely means he won’t do anything “too crazy” at the Zajac meet, which has finals beginning at 5:30 p.m. today through Sunday. But he wants to swim well in Santa Clara, Calif., next week at a big international meet that’s “going to be fast.”

And if he can medal at London in August, there will be several hundred kids back in Ancaster, Ont., who will be cheering on a hero who never gave up.

gkingston@vancouversun.com

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